Category: Football (Soccer)

Spurs produced a (fairly) authoritative performance to earn a two-goal first-leg advantage against Bodø/Glimt

“If any Spurs fans are thinking of heading to north Norway to sample the atmosphere for the second leg (I assume tickets are long gone), I can confirm that the (12-hour) train journey north from Bergen is absolutely stunning, the highlight of an interrail trip to the arctic circle last year,” writes Stuart Jenkinson, as the referee orchestrates the pre-match coin toss. “Every other house/ apartment was sporting a Bodo/glimt flag, as was the local peak, but unfortunately no home games in the short time we were there.”

The players have joined them, and they’re on their way out! One end of the ground is displaying the Spurs club motto by means of holding up black and white plastic sheeting. Flags wave everywhere. One corner is very, very yellow.

Manchester United have one foot in the final after a commanding display against 10-man Bilbao

3 min: … but nothing comes of it, Ruiz De Galarreta attempting a shot from distance that bounces apologetically through to Onana.

2 min: Bilbao on the front foot quickly. Nico Williams makes good down the left and looks for his brother Inaki at the far stick. Dorgu is forced to turn it behind for the first corner of the game.

The Ghana international on how recent successes and his club’s feeling and culture fuel hope for their semi-final with Manchester United

Iñaki Williams, the fastest footballer in town, is accelerating again. The more the images come, the quicker he goes, flying through faces, flashbacks and feelings, everything they did and can still do. “It’s madness,” he says, eyes sparkling, the words chasing each other out, emotion building. And then the Athletic Bilbao winger pauses and laughs. “The other day they came to do tests. The cardiologist started to talk about it. He says: ‘That was wonderful; wow, the gabarra …’ And just him mentioning it, on the screen you saw my heart beating faster.”

The gabarra is a barge. Only that’s not all: there is something almost mythical about it, like a legend passed through generations. In an expression of Athletic’s identity, another idiosyncrasy of a unique club, the club’s trophies are celebrated by pulling the gabarra up the Nervión river with the players on board, or so they had been endlessly told, black and white pictures adorning the walls of seemingly every bar. Then, last April, they finally saw it for themselves, Williams leading them on board holding the Copa del Rey. It was the first time in 40 years. More than a million fans lined the river to see it: there were more people with them in Bilbao than live there.

• Tottenham face Bodø/Glimt in semi-final first leg
• ‘It hurts me a lot that we’re having a poor season’

James Maddison wants to reward Tottenham’s long-suffering supporters by winning the club’s first trophy since 2008 and has said a dismal Premier League campaign has made the players more determined to succeed in the Europa League.

Spurs host the Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt in the first leg of the semi-final on Thursday after suffering a record-equalling 19th league defeat at Liverpool on Sunday. Although Spurs have reached this stage of the Europa League for the first time since they won its predecessor, the Uefa Cup, in 1984, they have beaten only Southampton in the Premier League since the end of February and are on course for their lowest finish since its formation in 1992.